The Hypocrisy of American Slavery

Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was the best known and most influential¹ African American leader of the 1800s. He was born a slave in Maryland but managed to escape to the North in 1838.

He traveled to Massachusetts and settled in New Bedford, working as a laborer² to support himself. In 1841, he attended a convention of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society and quickly came to the attention of its members, eventually becoming a leading figure in the New England antislavery movement.

In 1845, Douglass published his autobiography³, "The Narrative⁴ of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave." With the revelation that he was an escaped slave, Douglass became fearful of possible re-enslavement and fled to Great Britain and stayed there for two years, giving lectures in support of the antislavery movement in America. With the assistance of English Quakers, Douglass raised enough money to buy his own his freedom and in 1847 he returned to America as a free man.

He settled in Rochester, New York, where he published The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper. He directed the local underground railroad which smuggled⁵ escaped slaves into Canada and also worked to end racial segregation⁶ in Rochester's public schools.

In 1852, the leading citizens of Rochester asked Douglass to give a speech as part of their Fourth of July celebrations. Douglass accepted their invitation.

In his speech, however, Douglass delivered a scathing⁷ attack on the hypocrisy⁸ of a nation celebrating freedom and independence with speeches, parades and platitudes⁹, while, within its borders, nearly four million humans were being kept as slaves.

Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied¹⁰ in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble¹¹ offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout¹² gratitude¹³ for the blessings¹⁴ resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful¹⁵. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate¹⁶ and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid¹⁷ and selfish that would not give his voice to swell¹⁸ the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee¹⁹, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently²⁰ speak, and the "lame²¹ man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters²² into the grand illuminated²³ temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous²⁴ anthems²⁵, were inhuman²⁶ mockery and sacrilegious irony²⁷. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty²⁸, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail²⁹ of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave³⁰ to the roof of my mouth!"

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing³¹ here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous³² and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds³³ herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged³⁴, in the name of liberty, which is fettered³⁵, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled³⁶ upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate³⁷ slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate³⁹ - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment⁴⁰ is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke⁴¹ less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed⁴² would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment⁴³ of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.

What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute⁴⁵ books are covered with enactments⁴⁶, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls⁴⁷ of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles⁴⁸ that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute⁴⁹, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing⁵⁰, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting⁵¹ houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass⁵², iron, copper⁵³, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting⁵⁴ as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators⁵⁵, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian⁵⁶ God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality⁵⁷ beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic⁵⁸ and argumentation, as a matter beset⁵⁹ with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing⁶⁰ a discourse⁶¹, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively⁶² and positively⁶³, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy⁶⁴ of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes⁶⁵, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay⁶⁶ their flesh with the lash⁶⁷, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction⁶⁸, to sunder⁶⁹ their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience⁴⁴ and submission⁷⁰ to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains⁷¹ to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy⁷² in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching⁷³ irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery⁷⁴ stream of biting ridicule⁷⁵, blasting reproach, withering⁷⁶ sarcasm⁷⁷, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety⁷⁸ of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice⁷⁹ and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham³⁸; your boasted liberty an unholy license⁸⁰; your national greatness, swelling⁸¹ vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns⁸², your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere⁸³ bombast⁸⁴, fraud, deception⁸⁵, impiety⁸⁶, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages⁸⁷. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody⁸⁸ than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies⁸⁹ and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns⁹⁰ without a rival.

Frederick Douglass - July 4, 1852